This is kinda weird... Yeah, they can get big. Most usual is to have 4 names (2 first names + mother + father)
Anyway, it's kinda weird because I wouldn't give anyone more than first and last name... And that's what most people do, (unless we're in the rare situation where two people share the same first + last name). Why was your friend making you write his full name?
In Spain of course your parents have 2 surnames too.
So your first surname is your father's first surname, his 2nd surname is dropped ( first surname of his mother )
Your second surname is the first surname of your mother, her 2nd gets dropped too.
In the end always the name line of the females get dropped.
Historically, yes; however, they passed a law some years ago to allow for the mother's surname to be the first surname, as it happens in Portugal. Nonetheless I am not sure how popular this is.
That's so shitty. In the Netherlands they've just started to allow 2 surnames. One of the best proposals I've heard is that you would take your father's father's name, and your mother's mother's name. That way men continue the male name line, and women continue the female name line.
What happens on blue countries when mother and father don't have the same surname? For example when they are not married or the mother didn't bother to change her surname